Random Selection
by Rikki Rray
Summary: Xander's mouth runs away with him again and he ends up in a whole different world.
1. Chapter 1

_**Random Selection**_

I own nothing. Buffy's Joss's, Halo belongs to Bungie. I'm just a poor bus driver. Boo hoo.

Sorry abouting deleting this, I was trying to tidy it up a few loose ends. A word to the wise, don't do this when stoned on painkillers from a motorbike accident. You do things that you don't want to do!

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

It was two days after the events in the library with the Sisterhood of Jhe, and Buffy, Willow and Giles had met to discuss Xander's standing in the group. Whilst this little meeting was going on, Xander was in lunchtime detention for snarking off to Principle Snyder again.

"I don't know Buffy, this really isn't a good idea. It would crush Xander if he was pushed completely out of all slaying activities," said Giles as he polished his glasses.

"But Giles, he just gets in the way, or gets hurt. He's got no special powers, and its not as if he can actually fight," Buffy replied. "No, this ways better, **and** safer for Xander."

At that moment , Faith pushed her way into the library, "Yo, B, Red, Jeeves. Wheres Boytoy?" she asked as she boosted herself up onto the counter.

"Detention with Snyder," said Willow looking uncomfortable in Faith's presence. "Why?"

"No reason" said Faith looking bored, "whatya talking about?"

"Whether or not Xander should still be slaying. Buffy and Willow think not -" started Giles.

"Boytoys got some wicked moves on him. Took out one of the Sisterhood the other night that I was fighting, saved my ass," interrupted Faith. And then she dropped the bombshell, "and I also heard he took out a gang of zombies on his own too."

"What!" shrieked Buffy and Willow. "We told him to stay at home out of trouble."

Giles just put his head in his hands, "this isn't going to go down well with Xander, Buffy. He's not going to accept it easily at all."

"He's just going to have to," said Buffy stubbornly, and with that, she stormed off to class.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

True to Giles prediction, it didn't go down well with Xander, who met up with the rest of the Scooby Gang after school in the library. When told of the final decision, ie. Buffy's decision, it went down like a lead balloon.

10 minutes after storming out of the library, Faith caught up with Xander playing idly with a knife he'd taken off a dead demon 2 weeks previously, when she carefully approached him.

"You OK, X?" she asked carefully.

"Oh yeah, fine," answered Xander bitterly. "Why shouldn't I be. My **best friends** are kicking me out of the only thing in my life thats worthwhile, my home life is shit, and lets not forget that Cordy hates me too. Just peachy, with a side of keen," he snorted.

"I hear you about a shit home life," muttered Faith, in a louder voice she said, "I just wish we could start afresh somewhere else."

Getting into the spirit of things, Xander said, "I wish we could be super soldiers or something." Not realising that the saying 'the walls have ears' could at times be quite literal. In this case, it was a vengeance demon that was hanging around, never dreaming that she would get both the White Knight **and **the Dark Slayer to both make a wish that she could grant.

At that precise moment, she teleported in, and said "Done", and both Faith and Xander were whisked away to a new fate.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

The next thing that both Xander and Faith knew, was someone screaming at them to wake up.

"I am Chief Petty Officer Mendez, the rest of these men are your instructors. You will do exactly as we tell you at all times." Was shouted three beds down from Faith, and then the first day began.

After the shock had worn off at waking up age 6 years old again, Faith and Xander gravitated towards one another again, feeling semi secure in each others presence and not quite so alone, even in the midst of 73 other children.

They had memories, which clearly weren't theirs, of being told that they had been recruited to be soldiers, but what blew both of their minds was the fact that they was on a different planet. A planet called REACH.


	2. Chapter 2

Forgot to say, CPO Mendez's little speech actually comes from The Fall of Reach and is therefore the property of Eric. S. Nylund, not me. I just wish!

Chapter 2

The years passed quickly for Xander and Faith as they were put through their training under the watchful eyes of CPO Mendez and the AI Deja. Dr Catherine Halsey was another constant in their lives, and for many of the Spartan trainees, she became something of a mother figure, because most of them were too young to remember their mothers properly. Not so with Xander and Faith. They were more that happy to forget theirs.

They remembered their lives prior to Reach better than most of the other trainees. Some of this could be put down to the age of their minds when they arrived on Reach, the rest was due to the type of life they had led prior to this. They took the opportunity that fate had, even in the guise of a vengeance demon, granted them, and grabbed hold with both hands.

During this time, it had become apparent, even to Buffy and Willow, after a months lack of contact, that something serious had happened to Xander. At first they thought he was sulking over their decision to relegate him to research and doughnut boy, but when they realised that Faith was missing too, they really started to worry.

Giles began researching all of the possible mystical ways that Xander and Faith could've disappeared, whilst Willow was using the Internet for her own search. This was in between attempting to foil the Mayor's plan for demonic Ascension. But they never thought to ask Anya what she might possibly know.

Xander and Faith on the other hand, were really benefiting from having a positive influence in their lives for the first time, and it showed through their performance. Although neither of them was the best, nor was they the worst, and even the worst of the Spartans at the age of 12 years old was more than a match for any member of any of the other branches of the armed forces. And they knew it. From their previous lives in Sunnydale, both of them had brought something with them. For Faith it was an ability to excel at any form of unarmed combat, which came from when she was the Slayer. Xander, on the other hand, had an instinctive knowledge of guns and bombs, and this came from when he was a Halloween soldier, and now he had the patience and expertise to use this properly.

At 14 years of age, the entire class of Spartans underwent a series of enhancements, surgical and otherwise, and later gained the Mjolinor armor, for which they would be forever identified by. These procedures carried a high morbidity and mortality rate. Xander and Faith were 2 of only 33 to come through successfully. Their first mission was mere away after that.

No one knew what would come after that. No ones nightmares even came close.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

First off, I've gotta say, sorry it's been so long with this one, I had a brain freeze, and then, boom, it all fell into place. Secondly, thanks to Duken for the suggestion of numbers for Xander and Faith. Yes sweetie, I did use them, so cheers.

The first mission that the operational Spartans carried out was the capture of the rebel leader leader who was holed up in an asteroid belt. Due to the demands of the mission, the Petty Officer in charge, John-117, allocated his people as best as he could, but out of 33 soldiers, it was obvious that not everyone would be able to go. But it didn't stop those who weren't chosen from being disappointed.

For Xander and Faith, their first mission came later, again, it was an exercise in infiltration, but this time, instead of the capture of an individual they had to secure stolen information. All of these early missions went smoothly, with no loss of life on the Spartans side.

Unfortunately, by the time the Spartans met the Covenant, the Covenant spoilt this record. In the first instance of combat between the two groups, the Covenant were the clear losers, every time both groups met, the Covenant invariably came off worse when the battle ground was on the ground, but that wasn't to say that the Spartans had no loses either.

The first loss was Sam. His Mjolinor armor was breached in the first assault on one of the Covenant capital ships, and knowing that his armor wouldn't survive the vacuum of space, over-rode the objections of John, and sacrificed himself for the rest of the team.

But not all space battles went that way. On the ground, when the Spartans were present, the Covenant were decimated, it was then that they retreated to space and the Navy were repeatedly decimated, as the Covenant had the superior technology, and a religious fervor to match.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

Two Years Later

"So whataya think, Boytoy?" Faith asked Xander, as she cleaned her weapons in preparations for their next engagement.

"About what, Faith?" asked Xander absentmindedly.

"Do they remind you of demons? I mean, some of 'em are definitely fugly enough for it," she laughed.

"Well, sure. But we've been here 10 years now, and not once have we seen anything resembling a Hellmouth at all," allowed Xander. "I wonder how the others are doing," Xander thought out loud about the rest of the girls, and Giles and Oz for the first time in years.

"Ah, who cares," said Faith. "We've got each other, and a family that cares about us now-"

"But how did we get it?" interrupted Xander. "Seems a bit hellmouthy to me, one minute we're teenagers, living on the precipse of Hell on Earth, the next, we're 6 years old, on another planet, with a chance to become someone. Which we have. We defied what our loser parents told us in Sunnyhell and Boston. Don't look at me like that Faith," Xander said, at the wounded look he could see in Faith's eyes, as she'd raised her face shield. "Our original childhood's were too damn alike."

"Yeah, I know," she said softly. "So, do you think it was a demon, or something?"

"Probably, I guess we'll never know for sure," Xander said reflectively.

"Do we tell the others?" asked Faith, finally voicing what had been bugging the pair of them for years. "Or do you think that they'll think that we're both nuts?"

"Maybe if we tell it to them in a story, they might not immediately ship us off to the infirmary," ventured Xander. "Still, I dunno, it would be good to finally tell them. It just feels, I guess, wrong that we've kept it from them for so long. Their our family now, and we're keeping this honking great secret from them."

"So, how do we start?" asked Faith.

"How do you reckon, with the Hellmouth of course," said Xander. As Faith and Xander sat down to sort out their little story time sessions, an officer came on deck, one of the Spartans noticed him, and shouted, "Officer on Deck!" the next moment, 15 towering Spartans stood at attention.

"At ease," the lieutenant said, standing at parade rest himself. "Ladies and gentlemen, it has come to our attention that the Covenant are going to target a new planet. This planets name for the moment is going to remain classified. The Office for Naval Intelligence has decided that this is need to know information, and we don't need to know."

#Figures,# thought Xander to himself, #this has got the makings of a giant clusterfuck written all over it.#

"Excuse me sir," Faith intersected. "But if we don't know where we're going, or even what the objective of the mission is, how are we supposed to make sure that it's a success?" As Faith asked this question, several faceplate's turned to look at her her, and at least one groan could be heard. They could always count on Xander and Faith to ask these type of questions.

The Lieutenant just smiled at her, "I asked the same question myself, Spartan. And I was told, don't ask. The only information that I can give, is that we need a team that has a good EOD specialist. Chief, I leave it to you to select your people," and with that, he saluted the assembled Spartans, and left.

"This is gonna be a clusterfuck," Xander announced once they'd gone over the meager mission requirements that the lieutenant had left them with. "I mean, we've gotta make a working mission with THAT!" he said sardonically.

"So glad you feel that way, Xan," grinned the Chief, behind his faceplate. "This is your mission."

"When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?" Xander groaned, as Faith started to laugh.

"Laugh it up, Spartan-003, You and 001 are Johnny-on-the-Spot for this one. Xan, my guess is this is one of the water worlds-"

"Oh, the joy! That makes makes infiltration a bitch," Faith said sourly.

"I don't think thats gonna be the main problem here," the units main sniper, Linda, said. "I think the problems gonna be holding the place whilst the Spooks extract whatever info that they've deemed important enough for us to go in, in the first place."

"And this just keeps getting better and better," sniped Faith, "what-" at that Xander slapped his hand over Faith's mouth to stop her, (she'd opened her faceplate again by this time.)

"Don't jinx us, Faith!" Xander hissed at her. Nobody else even looked at them strangely, their strange behavior was a matter of record by this stage.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

Two days later, the Lt. was back, with confirmation that it was indeed a water world. #Score one for the Chief,# Xander thought to himself.

"We're going in in 6 hours time. You'll get an objective briefing 1 hour prior to departure from Intelligence-" This time it was Xander that interrupted the Lt.

"But sir, how will we know whether or not our Mjolinor armor is rated properly, or if we've got the correct ordinance. You specialised for this mission and EOD specialist, but what about specialist equipment?"

"I understand your concerns, 001. But in this matter, my hands are tied. I know as much about this as you do. The only thing that I can suggest, is get everything ready, and when you know for sure, take just that," the Lt. advised.

"Sir, yes sir," Xander said, saluting him.

#I really need a saner job,# the Lt. thought to himself as he dismissed the Spartans.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

5 hours later, after ALL of Xander's toys had been checked, cleaned and put away again, they were waiting for the Spooks to turn up. Faith had decided that it was the perfect time to start telling the Hellmouth stories. The other Spartans were so engrossed in these stories,that these hardened soldiers were finally acting their ages. 16 years old. Until ONI turned up that is.

"Officer on Deck!" Faith shouted, leaping to attention, there was a flurry of movement as the remaining Spartans sprang to their feet and to attention.

"At ease," one of the officers said. "I am Captain Muronzi. We are going in in approximately 68 minutes to a Covenant held world. We know that they're looking for something. We need to know what, and to get to it first, if we can. Lt. Coupe mentioned that you wanted to know what ordinance to take. Here's a list," and he handed a list over to the nearest Spartan, who reached round and handed it to Xander. Who grunted when he saw it.

"Sir, we have most of that ready. Can ONI supply a submersible?" he asked.

"Yes, 001. We're also supplying HellJumpers to go with this mission. As well as the ONI Personnel that's going along too," Captain Muronzi added.

#This mission just keeps getting better and better,# grimaced Faith in the privacy of her helmet.

As the briefing got fully underway, the rest of the Spartans were beginning to agree with Xander's original assessment. It now looked like they also had to babysit a bunch of Spooks as well as make sure the HellJumpers made it out in one piece. Clusterfuck covered it nicely.

"That's all people, get ready to go in 30 minutes. Dismissed."

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

The insertion and infiltration went as smooth as silk, until one of the Spooks went and jinxed the whole operation. Then, in the space of 10 minutes, a quarter of HellJumpers had been killed.

"Sir, with all due respect, you're a fucking idiot," a furious Xander told the pale faced Lt., who lost even more colour when the Covenant started to breach the hull.

"Seal those suits, fighting retreat!" another of the Spartans, Jane, called out, as she went to cover the area that the Covenant were starting to breach with Faith.

"This is gonna be fun," Faith whispered on the Spartans channel.

Jane sniggered, "if it wasn't for the dickless wonder over there and the HellJumpers, I'd agree. But we've gotta get the Spooks back in one piece."

"Is murder always a crime?" Xander asked from across the sub, as he covered the HellJumpers whilst they got ready.

Fred started to laugh as he covered the Spooks, "it might be considered justice for the HellJumpers, but Fleet might not be very happy with you, Xan."

"Shame about that," Faith commented, then she switched over to the general channel. "Hull's starting to breach, got me some firecrackers there?"

Xander threw some plasma grenades over to her as Fred took point out of the sub with two HellJumpers as back up. Xander then proceeded to order the HellJumpers to guard the Spooks. When they balked at this order, he offered then the chance to fight Covenant instead, whilst the Spartans babysat the Spooks, just as the firing started from Jane and Faith. The HellJumpers, not being stupid, took the first option.

Just then, a massive explosion the sub apart. "Well, thats one party favour down," Xander said with a grin, as Jane and Faith came up to him firing away as the Covenant streamed in.

"Ready?" Faith asked.

"Yup, Jane?" Xander asked.

"You have to ask?" she replied as they all threw plasma grenades at the advancing Covenant troops, and sprinted away.

As the advance troops of the Covenant blew up, the three Spartans caught up with Fred and the others, and they made it just ahead of another party of Covenant troops to the extraction point.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

Debriefing – 2 hours later

"I'm delighted to say, that despite the loses that this mission entailed, it was a success. However, Spartan 001, your conduct towards Lt. Harding leaves a lot to be desired. Do you have anything to say in your defense?" Captain Muronzi asked.

"Sir, no sir," Xander said, standing to attention. One of the HellJumpers looked as if he wanted to intervene at this point, but his Sgt just shook his head, knowing that military superstition wouldn't go down well with these intelligence types.

"In that case, I'll leave it to your commanding officer to deal with. Dismissed."

All of the Spartan and HellJumpers came to attention and saluted and marched out of the room at that point.

"Well, that sucks," the young private who looked like he was going to support Xander said.

"Thats just the way it goes, kid," his Sgt said. "Thanks for getting us out, Spartan. We appreciate it, even if the Spooks don't."

"We do what we can," Fred said.

"Is murder always a crime?" Xander asked again, as he glared at the briefing room doors.

"Hell man, I'll back you up," the young private said, glaring the same way.

"There ya go, Boytoy. All the back we need," Faith said laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next few years went by in a similar fashion. Many battles against the Covenant were fought, which resulted in many medals and commendation. Xander also managed to amass, for a Spartan anyway, a sizable collection of reprimands. Not that Xander really cared. He followed his heart, just like in Sunnydale, and Faith followed him

There were really only two men who could control Xander. CPO Mendez, and the Spartans didn't know where he was, and CPO Spartan-117, and John found a lot of the reprimands funny in hindsight. Dr Halsey was another person who could control the Spartans, but again, they didn't know where she was either. In all likelihood, she'd probably approve of Xander's behaviour as well.

It turned out that during this time, Giles hadn't given up the search for Xander and Faith. Graduation had come and gone. The Mayor had been defeated, with perhaps more deaths than what would have been if Xander had been involved, but thats neither here nor there. Giles never have up hope.

Buffy and Willow started at UC Sunnydale, and without the influence of their Xander-shaped friend, fell more deeply under the insidious influence of Project Initiative, until it was nearly too late, when a chance remark by Anya gave Giles a desperate idea.

"Anya, from your demon days, where there any Patron Saints of Betrayed Children?" he asked the ex-demon seriously.

Anya rolled her eyes, "only Hallie, Halfrek," she elaborated, then she called her in. "Hallie dear. You wouldn't by any chance have granted a wish to Faith and Xander would you?"

Hallie just smiled at her, "now, now Anya. You know I can't talk about work with you now," and she teleported out.

"That means," Anya said to Giles as he put his glasses back on and went for his books.

After nearly three hours, Giles thought he might be able to stop the Cyborg creation the Initiative had cooked up, and get Xander and Faith back where they belonged, but it was both a long shot, and bloody dangerous as well.

"Anya, I need your help with this," he said to her. "You too Spike. Spike, can you get Willow and Buffy here. Tara as well. Anya, if can, can you get Halfrek to attend, ask her, trick her, I don't bloody care, just get her here. The less everyone knows, the safer everyone else will be in the long run."

"Whatever, Watcher," the bleached blond vampire said as he slunk out to look for a Slayer and two witches.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

30 minutes later, Buffy, Willow and Tara arrived with Spike looking rather confused, who just looked smug.

"Giles, Spike said you wanted to see us, why?" Willow asked.

"Buffy, Willow, we have to take Adam out, now," Giles said forcefully.

"But, he's the Initiative's ultimate weapon," Buffy said.

"He's a bastard creation of demon, human and machine, it wants to reproduce and destroy us all. Buffy, it can't be permitted to exist," Giles insisted. "It's already killed one of your boyfriend's friends, and at least one child. How many more are you willing to let it kill? Ah, Halfrek, how good of you to join us," he said as Anya and Hallie joined them. "There's a cyborg abomination running around, it's killed at least one child," he said, appealing to the so-called Patron Saint of Betrayed Children. "I would like to make a wish."

Spike grinned at this, as Buffy, Willow and Tara all looked as if they were going to protest. Anya didn't say anything, she looked as if she had an idea of where this was going.

"If it stops more children from being Betrayed, go ahead," Halfrek said, magnanimously.

"I wish that Alexander LaVelle Harris and Faith Elizabeth Lehane would help us in out assault against the Initiative. I'm not asking you to undo any previous wishes to them, but I wish for them to assist us," Giles reiterated.

"Before I grant this wish, answer me this, Watcher," Halfrek said, nothing human in her eyes at this point. "Did you at all look for your missing children?"

"Anya knows me well enough to know when I'm lying," Giles said. Halfrek then looked at Anya, who nodded, so she looked back at Giles who said, "I've never stopped looking."

Halfrek, again looked at Anya, who again nodded. "Very well. Granted," and her face changed as she granted the wish. Buffy and Willow looked around wildly, expecting to see Xander and Faith appear out of thin air.

"She didn't do it! She welshed on you, Giles!" Buffy accused, as she stood up and advanced menacingly towards Hallie.

"No, she didn't," Anya said. "She just obeyed the letter of the word of the wish. Think back to what Giles said. 'In our assault against the Initiative,' they'll appear then, when they're needed the most, most probably."

"Exactly. Toodles," and with that, Hallie teleported out.

"But Xander's still not here," Willow said, on the verge of tears, clearly not caring, still, about the fate of Faith.

"Yes, well. We go into the Initiative tomorrow evening as we planned. Where's Riley anyway?" Giles asked, just as there was a knock on the door. It was Riley with the plans to the Initiative that he's promised.

"Graham won't help us," he said softly. "But he won't stop us, because of what happened to Forrest."

"Well, that's better than nothing, I suppose," Anya said acerbically.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

The next day both groups went about their business as normal. Although the two Spartans in questions were a lot less tense than the Scooby Gang. A lot of this had to do with the fact that they had no idea what fate, and Halfrek, had in store for them.

Eventually, the time for the assault on the Initiative arrived, much to Buffy's relief. It was decided that Buffy, Willow, Giles, Anya and Tara would enter via the Lowell House entrance, and Riley would meet them there whilst pretending to be on duty. Spike would work his way in via the way that he'd escaped in the first, and Buffy was hoping that Halfrek would come for them.

Anya, in particular, took affront at this, insisting that she would, but Buffy, being the Slayer, couldn't trust a that demon would. Which then started an argument with/about Spike and Anya, until Giles ended up shouting at them all to shut all.

As they emerged from the hidden lift in Lowell House, where Riley met them, Giles was heard to say say clearly, if quietly, "Good Lord! Are all of your Government installations so dismally designed?" Which set Buffy off in a fit of giggles.

Just then, an alarm with a computerised voice went off. #Containment Breach! Containment Breach!#

Riley went white. "Riley, what's wrong?" Buffy asked her soldier boyfriend, knowing that something serious was wrong, and having a sinking suspicion that she knew what it was.

"Adam's opened the cages," Riley whispered in dread. "We were over full, and now they're free. We're seriously fucked."

"Where's Spike?" Buffy asked, as she walked down the corridor, drawing a sword out of one of the bags that they'd brought with them, and casually waded into the demons, sword flashing as she cut them down one by one. Riley took out an ax, and followed her, as did Anya, doing her best to keep up.

It was just then that Spike turned up, "just 'ad meself a lovely brawl with a Fyarl demon," he grinned, covered in blood from the demon that was foolish enough to think that he'd completely lost his edge.

"That's nice Spike. Remember what we're here for?" Giles shot back as he pulled a handful of spell ingredients out, alongside Tara and Willow.

"Yeah, yeah. Gotta stop the cyborg, and save all the soldier boys," Spike snarked back, sounding slightly bored, then he turned to Riley. "Oi, Soldier-Boy. There's a buncha yours cornered just up that corridor. Couldn't do anything on me own. Slayer, gimme a sword," he said to Buffy with a grin with a grin as she threw one to him.

The three of them quickly found the group beleaguered soldiers, just as Spike had described. The soldiers in question couldn't quite believe their eyes, seeing their Agent Finn fighting side by side with Hostile 17, and just as it seemed they were gaining the upper hand in the battle, more demons found them.

"Now would be a really good time, Halfrek," Buffy muttered to herself, as she ducked one demon's swipe at the same time as she slaughtered another one.

Just as she said this, a portal formed just below the ceiling, and two heavily armored and heavily armed figures fell out of it, falling into a crouch with such resounding force, that the floor broke in several places.


	5. Chapter 5

Normal disclaimers apply. Sorry that it's been so long. My laptop died, and I had to get it rebuilt, and then once I got it back, I lost my sodding notebook. (Found it the other day, yay!) I did have two chapters written out, but I'm scrapping half of the next one. It's pants. I'll sort it out and post it next week on my next day off or something. Again, sorry.

Chapter 5

For Faith and Xander, the day started pretty much as normal. Heavily outnumbered by the Covenant forces that they faced, it was pretty much much life as normal for the Spartans.

They were taking fairly heavy fire fire, when Jonas – 073, came up with the idea of doing a switch and bait.

"Do it," the Petty Officer, Sarah – 035, shot at him, as a Helljumper was vaporized due to a lucky shot by a Grunt weapon.

Jonas loped off, firing at them, and led them on a merry chase, enabling the pinned down Helljumpers to extricate themselves from the foxhole that they'd made, and make it back to the Warthog, as Faith lay in wait for Jonas to reach her and trigger the bombs that Xander had previously laid. This then enabled Jonas and Faith to make tracks back to the Warthog themselves.

They were less than two meters away from the Pelican when another lucky shot took out the back axle of the Warthog, making it impossible for them to drive any further.

"Out! Out! Out!" Sarah shouted, as she grabbed her gun and all the ammunition she could lay her hands on, as the remaining Helljumpers and Spartans spilled out of the Warthog firing at the Covenant.

Just as they reached the Pelican, another Helljumper succumbed to enemy fire, and the rest of them piled on, dragging the body of the unfortunate soldier with them. As they slammed the doors shut, and the Pelican took off, a flash of light filled the hull. When it vanished, Faith and Xander were nowhere to be seen.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

The next thing Faith and Xander knew, they were falling out of the ceiling, in what they instinctively knew, was a military instillation.

"What the fuck? Faith, are those demons?" Xander asked in disbelief, as he straightened up from the crouched he'd landed in.

"Sure looks like it, Boytoy," Faith said, as she too straighted up, but orientated herself 180 degrees to Xander. It was then that Faith saw the proof that it was indeed a military installation. And standing with that proof, was Buffy.

"Buffy," Faith whispered in shock, and Xander spun around.

"We're in Sunnydale?" he asked sharply.

"Must be Boytoy, open Channel, and blast the fuckers," she said, as she shoved a fresh magazine in her gun.

"Right," said Xander, following suit.

"Yo, B. Ya might wanna take cover," Faith said wickedly, as she swung her gun towards the approaching demons.

Buffy had just enough time to whisper their names in shock, before the pair of them opened fire. The noise was deafening, as the Spartan's weapons were far more powerful than the ones that Riley and his men had at their disposal, so they also ripped through the assembled demons like they were barely there. Just then, Xander saw Spike, and swung his gun towards him.

"No! He's on our side now!" Buffy screamed at Xander, struggling to be heard over the gunfire, which was starting to slow down as Faith was running out of targets.

"Buffy, he's a vampire. You're the Slayer. We went through this with Angelus, remember?" Xander said, as he lifted his faceplate, revealing a face that Buffy had missed, but had at times convinced herself otherwise when she missed him too much.

"Xander, this is different. The Initiative, they experimented on him. He can't hurt any living being anymore," she insisted.

Xander just stared at Spike as Faith walked up. "They defanged ya, Bleach?" she asked, as she too lifted her faceplate. "So, who's blood is that?"

"Fyarl demons. Can still kill demons," he snapped back defensively. "I'm still the Big Bad, I ain't completely lost me edge!"

"Oh, this is just too funny," snorted Faith, clutching her gun and starting to giggle, then the giggles got worse at the look of outrage on Spike's face.

Then a scream rang out down the corridor.

"Is that Willow?" Xander asked, all mirth disappearing from his face in a flash.

"Yeah, she's with the Watcher, her bird and the demon-girl," Spike snarled at him, his pride still stinging a bit.

"Where are they Spike?" Xander asked calmly as he reloaded his gun, and Faith followed his example. The surviving Initiative soldiers just watched these incredibly competent soldiers in awe.

"Down that corridor, turn left, halfway down, turn right," he said as Xander closed his faceplate and took off running, Faith right behind him.

"I think we'd better follow them," Buffy said uncertainly.

"Why? Their not gonna leave anything for us to do," sulked Spike. "Ow! What was that for?" he whined, rubbing the arm that Buffy had hit.

"Pig!" she shot back, as she stomped off after them. Even if she hadn't known which way they'd gone, it would've been easy enough to find them. The trail of demon corpses riddled with high caliber bullets, and the echo of gunfire laid an easy enough trail to follow. As did the scream that Willow let out when she saw the two armored figures enter the room that they were barricaded in.

"Yo, Jeeves, is this the latest in Watcher accessories?" Faith asked, using her pet name for Giles so he'd know it was her, when she saw the ax he was wielding.

"Faith? Xander? Good God, what happened to you both?" Giles asked in shock, taking in the sheer size of the two Spartans.

"No time for Show and Tell, G-Man," Xander grinned behind his faceplate at Giles' grimace at the hated nickname. "Well, we got time for show, we'll do tell later. Gather your shit, we're leaving, this room ain't secure."

"Xander, we need to do a spell," Willow said, looking up at him, "to empower Buffy and beat Adam. He's part demon and part machine. Professor Walsh created him, and he killed her. Will you help us?"

"I'll always protect you Willow, you know," Xander replied.

"N-no, we n-need you t-to be the heart," Tara managed to get.

"Miss, if I'm the heart of anyone, I'm the heart of the Spartans now," Xander replied honestly. "I've been a Spartan for 14 years now, I was a Scooby for 3. It can't be me."

"If it's been that long for them, Willow, Tara, then Xander's correct," Giles said. "There has to be another way."

"You said this Adam is part machine," Faith stated. "What powers him?"

"A nuclear reactor," Riley said, as the rest of the Initiative survivors arrived with Buffy and Spike.

"Should be easy enough to disassemble then," Faith shrugged. "What toys ya got, Boytoy?"

Xander started to say "normal assortment-"

He was cut off there, "but there's nothing in the armory that can take Adam out," Riley protested, then he stepped back when two faceplate's turned to face him.

"That you have. We've got different toys," came the slightly sardonic reply from Faith.

"Better toys," was added by Xander, knowing the capability of both 20th century and 26th century bombs and hardware much better than Faith. "Your job is to protect Giles, Willow, and these other two young ladies long enough to do whatever mojo they need to do to partially neutralize this cyborg. We'll do the rest."

"You don't give the orders here," a voice said from behind them.

"Sir," Riley said, protesting, recognizing the voice of his C.O. "With all due respect, at least they've got a chance. The only chance we've got against Adam, is a chance to die."

At that point, Colonel McNamara walked into the room, followed by a squad of Marines. "You will surrender your weapons, and stop this foolish insurrection. Immediately."

Xander and Faith immediately switched channels so they could talk without being overheard. "Is this guy for real? Hasn't he seen the demons?" Faith said to Xander in disbelief.

"And I thought ONI was bad," Xander said to her, then he went back to the open channel so that everyone could hear what he had to say. "With all due respect, Colonel," and everyone could hear the sarcasm in his voice at this point. "I ain't giving up my weapon for no one. And if you think you can handle these demons without us or the Slayer, then you need to see your units shrink!"

At that comment, Faith, who hadn't changed channels and was well acquainted with Xander's disrespect for superior officers, just started to snigger, and no one else could hear her. Riley's men, having faced the demon's on the rampage, were far more inclined to agree with Spartan, but were also appalled to hear this very capable soldier talk to a superior officer in such a disrespectful manner.

Buffy, on the other hand, knew no such discretion. Whilst Willow stared at Xander, semi-appalled, Buffy started to giggle. This was the Xander she remembered and missed.

As the military stand off between Xander and McNamara was becoming more and more tense, Murphy's Law decided to lend a hand. Adam attacked them, in full force.


	6. Chapter 6

I have absolutely no luck with computers. Since I last updated, I've killed 5, yes 5, laptops. That is including my mum's which I had borrowed. I also fell pregnant and had the pregnancy from hell. Or so it seemed to me in the last three months whilst I was in and out of hospital with pre-eclampsia. And my little girl was admitted to special care. That was awful. So, sorry it's late, (by a sodding year), but it's here. And I don't own Lieutenant Ambrose, he comes from "Ghosts of Onyx" which is written by Eric Nylund, see, totally not mine

Chapter 6

As a surprise attack, it pretty much sucked. But Adam's advantage lay in the fact that he had numbers on his side, and the fact that his adversaries weren't united against him. In the first 10 seconds alone, 5 marines were cut down and partially eaten by a variety of different demons.

"Have you seen enough?" Faith shouted at McNamara as she reloaded her weapon and backhanded another demon that came far too close for Faith's liking to the two witch's that were starting the spell to weaken Adam.

McNamara just stared as he backed away. "Sir, what are your orders? Sir?" Riley asked him urgently.

"Fuck him, soldier. 003, Covenant Policy. GO!" Xander shouted, and then exploded into action, shooting the demons that were feeding on the corpses of the dead marines, as Faith spun around and strafed the demons approaching from the opposite direction, killing the ones that were susceptible to bullets, and slowing down those that weren't, so Buffy, Spike and Riley had relatively easy kills.

After that action, Xander and Faith advanced on Adam. "He's got a mini-gun in his arm!" Buffy screamed towards them.

"Well shit," muttered Faith as she targeted his right arm above the elbow. Xander, by unspoken agreement, targeted more or less the same spot on his left arm.

As this was happening, McNamara was starting to edge out of the room. He badly wanted the advanced weaponry that the two Spartans were using. But how to get it? Just as he reached the door, a hand landed heavily in his shoulder.

"And where do you think you're going, Colonel?" a voice said. It was Giles. He'd seen the greedy look in the Colonel's eyes when he's looked at his newly returned children, and there was no way he was going to let his succeed in whatever he was planning.

As McNamara swung round, he relaxed when he saw it was Giles, "do you really think an out of work librarian can stop me?" he sneered at him.

Giles just smiled gently as he took his glasses off. "I wasn't always a librarian, you git," and then he head butted him, Ripper style.

Spike saw this, and cheered as he decapitated another rampaging demon, and Faith started to snigger.

"Think Jeeves has gone 'Ripper' on us Boytoy," she said with a smile as then concentrated fire of heavy calibre finally took its toll, and managed to sever both of Adam's arms just above the elbow.

"Eeew!" grimaced Buffy at then spray of ichor that went flying, along with the limbs. Anya just looked impressed at the damage the Spartans managed to inflict. As Adam reeled back, his severed arms started inching their back towards their former owner.

"Cool," breathed Spike as he stared in morbid fascination at the spectacle in front of him.

"Don't let them reconnect!" screamed Anya over the rising chanting of the two witches she was struggling to protect. Just as she finished saying this, Faith booted one of the arms clear across the room whilst Spike impaled the other with his sword so hard it penetrated the floor and shattered.

"Oh bugger. Got no weapon now. Oh well," he shrugged, grinned and plowed back into the fray, fists flying.

Just the the chanting ceased, and Tara collapsed, Willow was swaying ominously. "It's done," she whispered. Both Spartans raised their guns and fired full auto at Adam's head, blowing it apart like an overripe melon.

Then an alarm started to shriek. "Go!" shouted Faith at Xander, and he pulled a knife and disembowelled the dead zombie/super-soldier and began to disarm the nuclear reactor whilst Faith watched his back.

"I fucking hate deadlines like that," Xander said as he stood up, covered in gore and parts of Adam's reactor in his hands. "What?" he asked when he saw everyone staring at him. "What did I do?" he asked Faith who was laughing her head off.

"I don't think they've ever seen a bomb-disposal expert like you before," she sniggered.

The Initiative soldiers just started muttering amongst themselves, especially when Giles came back carrying a badly beaten McNamara over his shoulder.

"Right," said Buffy, "I think we can leave this lot to sort it out now, she grinned. "Giles, what's this? A keepsake?"

"No, a piece of shite," the grim-faced Englishman said. "I've just called in additional reinforcements. Buffy, Faith and Xander need to go to your house now. Spike too, as well as Tara and Willow. You stay with me." he turned to Riley. "I take it I have your support?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Riley just nodded, as did Graham, in no way did they want him angry at them. A few marines looked as if they wanted to protest, but Faith's faceplate turning towards them quietened them down quickly.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

The reinforcements that Giles called were another branch of the military that owed the former Watcher a favour, and at first they were more than pleased to be able to pay it back, until they saw the mess that Walsh and McNamara had caused.

Meanwhile, Xander, Faith, Willow, Tara and Spike had made it to Buffy's house house, where a very bemused Joyce Summers let them in. "Spike, what's going on?" she asked, he confusion evident.

"Magical exhaustion for Red and Glinda, Joyce," Spike said as he waltzed in as if he owned the place with Tara in his arms. Xander and Faith just just looked at one another as Xander followed with Willow.

"Oh my," she said when she saw Xander and Faith for the first time. "Spike, who's this?" and Joyce sounded really wary at this point.

"It's just the Whelp and Faith," Spike answered absently.

"Who?"

"Xander."

"Good Lord!" Joyce said, as she put a trembling hand towards her mouth.

"Guess she's been hanging out with the G-Man," Xander said sniggering. "Where'd you want me to put Willow, Mrs. S?"

"The sofa will be fine Xander," Joyce said faintly. "Is that really you Faith?"

"Yeah," Faith replied softly as she raised her faceplate, revealing her pale face.

"Oh God! We missed you both so much!" and Joyce burst into tears at the sight of Faith's face.

Just then a clattering could be heard coming down the stairs, "Mom! What's wrong?" It was Dawn. She skidded to a halt when she saw Faith and Xander. "Who the fuck are you?" she blurted out.

"Dawn Marie Summers!" scolded Joyce.

Xander just burst out laughing at that, and had to sit down on the floor, knowing that there was no way that the sofa would support his weight with the armour on. "Your influence Spike?" he asked the sheepish looking vampire, just before Joyce slapped him round the head.

"I just knew asking you to train Dawn asking for trouble," she grumbled, at which Faith started to laugh again.

"Man, I haven't laughed so much in years," she giggled. Mrs. S, you gotta garden hose so we can hose our armour down please?"

"Of course, you can use the shower as well-" she started to say.

"Nah, the hose will do. We'll probably end up breaking it," drawled Xander as he stood up smoothly. "Have you got a couple of wrenches though that we can use, and maybe a spare curtain or two until our uniforms dry?"

All through this exchange, Dawn was listening wide eyed to Spike's explanation of what had gone on, when she suddenly squealed, "I'm so glad that you're both home! Mom, can they stay here? Xander's parents are both losers, and Faith can't go back to Boston, and, and-"

"Think she's been hanging with Willow as well?" Faith said to Xander as she stared at Dawn in awe as she channelled Willow's babble.

"Probably," Xander agreed, not really all that bothered by the presence of another babbler.

"How comes you're so tall?" Dawn asked, as she craned her neck up towards both Spartans.

"Yeah," Spike added, as he started to raid Joyce's cupboards. "Neither of you were that tall before ya disappeared."

Faith shrugged, "we've done show, we'll do tell later when Red wakes up, and everyone else is here, 'kay?"

"Hump!" grunted Spike as he unearthed a packet of Twinkies, and promptly had them snatched out of his hands by Xander. "Oi Whelp! They're mine!" he shouted at the Spartan as he started to eat Spike's snack.

"14 years dude! I haven't had Twinkies in 14 years!" Xander said with an expression of ecstasy on his face, as Faith just started to giggle at him.

As Xander finished eating the entire pack, the front door opened again, and in traipsed Giles, Buffy, Anya, Riley and Graham. The latter two had decided that they were in too deep now, and they wanted to know the full story, but Faith and Xander were staying firm. Not until Tara and Willow woke up.

As things stood, that took an additional 24 hours, and gave both Spartans a chance to clean their armour and uniforms, even if they had to sit about in Joyce's spare curtains for a while, much to the amusement of her younger daughter.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

Everyone filtered in fairly early in the morning, and it all started off fairly innocently enough. But things were guaranteed to go wrong almost from the start. Buffy and Willow just couldn't and wouldn't see it. Xander and Faith had changed. Anya and Spike could see. So could Riley and Graham to a certain extent. The killer lurking behind their eyes, and they sure as hell was _not_ going to provoke them.

"It's so good to see you again, Xander," Willow gushed, finally recovered from magical exhaustion. "Where have you been? It's been months."

"It's kinda a funny story," Xander smirked, looking at Faith. "It all started when I heard my two best friends ultimatum that I quit helping out with the slaying-"

"We were just trying to help!" Willow interrupted.

"Shh, we're talking now," Faith said, a hard expression in her eyes.

"Faith found me after you two dropped your bombshell on me that you no longer wanted or needed my help," Xander continued, eyes looking fairly distant as he was obviously remembering something that had happened a long time ago. "We both made a wish-"

At that point, Anya groaned, and put her head in her hands.

"Something tom say, Miss?" Faith asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Did someone teleport in and say the word 'done' by any chance?" Anya asked, raising her head.

"Er, yeah," Xander answered as he looked at Faith again.

Anya looked at Giles and said just one word. A name, "Hallie."

"Ok, we woke as 6 year on another planet in a military program. The SPARTAN Program," Faith said.

"But that's just not possible," Buffy stated firmly.

"Says who?" asked Anya archly. "You know my past, are you really saying that Halfreck, Patron Saint of Betrayed Children couldn't take these two to another dimension?" and she gestured grandly towards the two Spartans.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Xander asked, slightly confused. "But who are you?"

"My name now is Anya Jenkins," Anya sniffed, "but for over a thousand years I was Anyanka, Patron Saint of Scorned Women."

"She was a vengeance demon Xander. They grant wishes," Spike said in exasperation.

"That explains a lot," Faith said looking thoughtful. "Then why are we here again?"

"Because I made a wish to Halfreck to have you come home again," Giles said softly, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"What!" shouted Xander, frightening the life out of Tara and Dawn. "Send us back! We're at war! We can't be AWOL!"

"How dare you!" shouted Faith at the same time.

The rosiness of seeing everyone had abruptly worn off.

"14 years ago, you interfered in our lives," growled Xander, "and you didn't fucking learn, and now you're doing it again!"

"It's for your own good!" Buffy insisted, harping on the same old tune.

"Does it really look like they need protecting, Buffy?" Riley asked, "or wasn't you in the same battle that we was?" Graham nodded to show his support, both to Riley, but also to Xander and Faith.

"Send us back!" Faith snarled at Buffy again.

"They can't, only Hallie can," Anya said. "There is a chance, a slim chance mind, that she'll send you back. You been screwed over enough that she may be willing to send you back."

Both Spartan's faced Anya, whose face paled dramatically at the look in their eyes, "I can't do anything," she insisted, the she sighed. "Hallie!" she shouted and waited for her friend to arrive.

"You can't leave," Dawn said, sounding lost, "you just come home."

"Dawn, we never wanted to come back," Faith said, honesty resonating from her voice. "We'd found a family, and a life that we wanted. Yeah it's hard, and the retirement programme's just like a Slayer's-"

"You mean there's not one," Dawn said bitterly, "or you get eaten alive, or-"

"Yeah, pretty much much all of the above," Xander said softly, touched by what Dawn was saying. "But, we chose it. It's our life, and Buffy and Willow are trying to take that away from us, again."

"Hallie!" Dawn shouted, "I wish-" and Buffy shot across the room to gag her sister.

"Haven't you learnt by now," Halfreck said as she appeared behind the Slayer, "you can't gag my betrayed children," and she backhanded Buffy. "Now, what is it that you wish for, Dawn?"

"For Xander and Faith to go home, the home of their hearts," she said, nearly in tears as she faced the reality that no one else could.

"Done," Halfreck said, and both Spartans disappeared, and then she smiled as gently as she could at Dawn, "I'm also going to grant the wish of your heart, child. Close your eyes."

Dawn closed her eyes, and disappeared.

"What have you done with my sister?" screamed Buffy as she leapt at Halfreck, who teleported out of her path.

"Why, granted her wish, of course. Ciao," and she teleported out of the room entirely.

BTVS/HALO/BTVS/HALO

Dawn opened her eyes, knowing that she wasn't in Sunnydale anymore, and strangely at peace with that decision as she listened to Lieutenant Ambrose, and realised that she was in the SPARTAN program, just like Xander and Faith.


End file.
